Trusted by 7 of the Largest Financial FirmsTrusted by 4 of the Top Telco ProvidersTrusted by 8 of the Largest RetailersTrusted by 6 of the Leading Global Tech CompaniesTrusted by 7 of the Leading Travel & Transportation Groups

Resources

Get to know us better! Gain valuable insights into how we think by visiting our blog, or take a look at the industry events we're frequenting on our events page. You can also geek out with us by attending one of our security management webinars, or dive head first into the products and solutions we provide in our Resource Library. There's lots to keep you busy!

Next Generation Firewalls Need Management Too

Feb 09, 2011Jody Brazil

The RSA show is around the corner, and undoubtedly next-generation firewalls will be a hot conversation topic. These firewalls represent a big leap forward in firewall technology and the timing is perfect; Web 2.0 applications have grown, and simply controlling ports and protocols is an insufficient defense of increasingly sophisticated attacks. These firewalls are able to control access based on application behavior, permitting a user to browse the Web while limiting Web-based file sharing, even though both may transfer data on TCP port 80. These solutions advocate controlling access by user instead of by IP address. This method is a much more dynamic and potentially effective way to control access -- outbound access in particular.

The new capabilities also encourage a new approach to firewall policy management. Instead of static IP address and protocol/port definitions in a rule, an administrator may use user groups and application categories as part of the rule definition. This method permits a one-time configuration setup, while enabling the configuration to dynamically adapt to changes in user groups and application definitions.

However, these solutions are not without their own perils. While traditional firewall management may be less dynamic, it is mostly self-contained. So, an administrator can definitively state what access is permitted based on the policy definition, and then evaluate changes to the policy to understand the impacts to the permitted access. This simple evaluation is not so simple with dynamic policies. Changes to Active Directory may have unintended implications for firewall behavior. Updates to the dynamic application filters may inadvertently block access to a critical business application or grant access to an application that should be blocked.

An even more basic problem is the conflicts between rules that result in failures. Although the next-generation firewalls are unique in their ability to filter applications by behavior, they still follow the traditional firewall paradigm of top-down filtering wherein the first applicable rule is applied. Managing applications may be preferred, but often, legacy applications or custom applications require management of protocol and port access. As a result, it is still possible to inadvertently allow or deny access -- resulting in hidden and shadowed rules -- in even more ways with next-generation firewalls.

I don't see any of these challenges as problems with the next-generation firewalls. They are simply reminders that like most security technology, next-generation firewalls are only as good as their configurations. Failure to effectively manage the configuration will cripple the security capability of this powerful new security solution.

We are excited to be a part of the new partner program at Palo Alto Networks, providing management solutions for the leading next-generation firewall vendor. For information on how FireMon can help you manage next-generation firewalls by Palo Alto Networks, stop by booth #545 at RSA USA 2011.

Events

Webinars

Traditional security models are all about the current state – but in the current state of cyber-security, by the time new rules are written, they’re obsolete. Resources have changed, topologies have shifted, traffic has evolved, and applications grew new arms and legs.

Most organizations that I talk to still have their networks designed for 90's era attacks. A hard perimeter and little to nothing on the inside. The one common exception is the part of the network that processes credit card data since PCI DSS specifically identifies the Cardholder Data Network (CDN) and requires controls around it.

Join David Monahan, managing research director at leading IT analyst firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), and discover the difference between organizations using an SPOA solution to manage their firewall environments versus those not using one of these solutions.

Using Security Policy And Automation (SPOA) Tools To Reduce The Attack Surface

Attack surfaces have expanded greatly in the past several years, in part because of the amount of new applications coming online via Internet of Things and increasingly connected technology. Organizations have an admittedly tough time keeping up with all the new touchpoints and the rapid expansion of the attack surface. Complete defense is nearly impossible, and many companies struggle with visibility issues, mismatched or misaligned firewall policies, and an inability to comprehensively test the security configurations they do have

Cloud technology gives enterprises faster application deployment, instant storage, workload versatility and pricing models that decrease initial capital investment. It is no wonder enterprises are making the move to the cloud.

Migrations run the risk of cost overrun, delays and disruption of network service - often due to a lack of personnel and process to efficiently and effectively manage. To ensure a successful migration, consider these four key factors: 1) identifying and removing technical mistakes, 2) removing unused access, 3) refining and organizing what remains and 4) continuous, real-time monitoring.

Network Security Policy Management (NSPM) continues to be a difficult practice for organizations the world over. In the last 20 years, network security policies (e.g. firewall rules) have grown by more than 3,500%. Yes, you read that number correctly. Why is that?

Gartner research has uncovered a number of security policy challenges for enterprises. Among these challenges are the typical assessments necessary to fortify policy for compliance and improved security posture.

Welcome to the world of overflowing regulations and compliance standards, of evolving infrastructure and the ever-present breach. It's a world where 72% of security and compliance personnel say their jobs are more difficult today than just two years ago.

Firewall technology has come a long way since its initial, most rudimentary forms. Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) are the latest development, and organizations are accelerating adoption to the new technology. But NGFWs aren’t a fix-all solution.

Forrester’s Zero Trust Model of information security helps teams develop robust prevention, detection and incident response capabilities to protect their company's vital digital business ecosystem. This report will help security pros understand the technologies best suited to empowering and extending their Zero Trust initiatives and will detail how Forrester sees this model and framework growing and evolving.

The customer sought a data analysis tool to correlate application data with network and security data to spot service-impacting anomalies. They did not have an accurate picture of interoperability between applications and the underlying infrastructure.

This national insurance provider had three problems to tackle regarding their firewall policies. First, the number of rules under management was overwhelming staff and processes. They needed to increase visibility and effectiveness of their firewall change request/workflow ticketing process. And they also need help maintaining compliance PCI DSS requirements.

Each time this Global MSP engaged a new customer, they had to onboard the firewalls – sometimes hundreds per engagement – into their network. Part of the onboarding process required assessing the policies against internal best practices – a manual, line-by-line process that took an average of 16 hours/firewall and was extremely error-prone.